...Short Story
Index
She lowered the knife and it grew even brighter. The pumpkin let off an eerie glow as Daffy hesitated, and wiped beads of sweat off her forehead. The restaurant kitchen was hot and musty, but she still shivered with fear. Daffy didn't know why but she felt that something was wrong with cutting open the pumpkin. She was so jittery that when the phone rang she dropped the knife on the floor and jumped. Daffy took a second to calm down. Then she picked up the phone. "Hello. This is the Dessert dish, may I help you?" Daffy asked. As she waited for answer, she wondered why anyone would call her at 11:00 at night.
Then the voice on the other end of the line said, "I'm one of your best customers, Molly. I just want to know which of your desserts has the least number of calories."
Daffy thought for a second before answering, "Off the top of my head I'm not sure, but if you'll hold on I can check on the menu. I'll only be a minute." She shuffled into the dining room and flicked on the light. The tables were dark and shiny with red and white checkered table cloths. There was a bar at one end of the room that had swivel stools. They were covered in red cloth. The walls were white. All in all it looked pretty good. The grand opening had been five months ago, and the restaurant had done very well. Then Daffy went to the nearest table and picked up a menu.
She then said to Molly, out of breath, "I have the menu right here. The dessert with the least amount of calories is Pumpkin Pie, and if you come in tomorrow I'm sure you can have a great pie. I just picked up a fresh pumpkin. It seemed to call out to me, and the way it glowed made me pick it."
There was an uneasy silence on the other end. Finally Molly replied, "Oh, is that so?" Her voice was mischievous. "Well, can you check the menu again?" She asked in that same voice. One second later, Daffy heard a whirring sound through the telephone. What a strange noise.
She went to check the menu again. Strangely the word dessert had changed to desert. "What ? How can that be?" Daffy said out loud.
She went back to the phone. "Pumpkin pie Has the least calories. You know what I saw? On my menu the word dessert has changed to desert. Must have been a type-o," Daffy said.
"Yah, must have been," Molly said "Well, I have to go. See you 'round," Molly said. Daffy went back to the pumpkin. As she lowered the knife, sweat came down her head. As she slowly laid the knife on the pumpkin even more sweat came. She drew back and chopped with all her might. The pumpkin was hard at first, then became soft. When she finally cut the pumpkin sand flew out. Daffy was so scared she couldn't move. Then a lone cactus flowed out. It had three points. The top one opened and water flowed out, creating a small waterfall. It flowed into the wooden bowl on the counter. It stood there for a second, then started to evaporate. It made a form in the sky. Then it turned solid. It was a demon.
Daffy asked, "Who are you?" Daffy asked, quite scared. "I'm Alex de demon de desert DeBeers!" Alex roared. Alex was wearing a red cape and looked like a beast. He had short black fur all over his body. His eyes were red and they glared evilly. Alex had a sand colored staff with a huge cactus that was covered with huge black needle-like spikes. There were claws on his toes and fingers that were sharp enough to slice a board in half. The demon's voice was loud and raspy.
He then boomed, "I want you to go on a mission for me." His voice seemed to make the walls shake.
"What kind of mission? "Daffy asked. "I want you to give me a sacrifice," Alex hissed. He continued. "Then I'll give you treasure."
"Let me think about it," Daffy said.
Then, as she walked out of the room, greed consumed her like a black hole. Her eyes became angry and narrow. Daffy's mouth turned into a sneering line as she thought of working so late in the night for so little pay.
Then the demon's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Are you finished thinking? I'm a busy demon!" Daffy had made up her mind.
She stomped stormily to the kitchen to speak to the demon. "I have made up my mind Alex de Demon de Desert de Beers. Tell me where the treasure of Rascal Ritter is hidden!" Everybody in town over the age of five knew who Rascal Ritter was. He had been a pirate in the 1800's who was supposed to have buried the treasure of King Jarred in this town. It was supposed to be worth over 100,000,000 dollars in jewels. Nobody has ever found it, even though every tourist had tried. Nobody knows if the stories are true, but elders told them so convincingly that many adults believed them, including Daffy.
Then Alex said in a dead whisper. "I need the sacrifice first."
"What is that, "Daffy asked in a frightened voice. The demon sounded insulted that Daffy didn't know about his devilish ways.
Then he yelled, "Human sacrifice! For every time I do your bidding you must give me a human that I can eat any way I want." At any other time Daffy would have been horrified at the thought of eating live humans. But greed can make people do crazy things they would never have thought of before.
That is what made Daffy say, "My cousin, Craig, is coming tomorrow. I will bring him to you. I promise."
But Alex de Demon de Desert de Beers was not trusting, so he said sharply, "Then I'll tell you tomorrow, after you give me the sacrifice."
This made Daffy extremely angry. "How do I know you'll tell me where the treasure is once I give you Craig," She asked warily.
"Believe me, "he said in his raspy voice. Then he continued threateningly, "Or this will be you!" He had waved his cactus staff and suddenly a hole burned into the wall, with smoke coming from the edges of the blackened wall. He waved it again and all traces of the wall were gone.
Daffy stared in awe and fear at Alex and said quietly, "I will trust you." With those parting words Daffy went home. She went to bed, but couldn't sleep. She did not want to go through with this anymore, but she didn't want to get fried. Daffy couldn't think straight. Her thoughts jumbled around in her brain. then she finally drifted into a troubled sleep. Daffy had many dreams, but one kept repeating. In the dream an old man was walking in a dark street. It was snowing lightly and only a sliver of the moon showed through the thick clouds. Suddenly the man lifted his head.
He whispered in a sing-song voice," Find the missing S. Destroy!" That's where the dream ended. How strange, Daffy thought after she woke up. Could it be about the menu? Could the word "desert" instead of "dessert" be a part of this? No way. Dreams are just a bunch of jumbled-up thoughts! Or so she thought.
Craig came in the late morning. Daffy was miserable all day.
Craig asked what was up, but Daffy made light of it. "I just have a big job to do tonight." Craig didn't press it but he knew something was up. That's why he asked if he could come with Daffy to her thing. But doing that he was sealing his doom.
That night after dinner, the two went to the restaurant as planed. As they walked into the kitchen, AIex greeted them.
He said, "Boy, lay down and meet your doom."
Craig said, "What is he going to do to me, Daffy?"
"Run!" Daffy answered in reply. Craig's legs didn't work for a second. Daffy stayed behind to fight the demon. She was no match for him.
"You are a fool, girl! You can't fight me!" He struck her with a blow of magic. Meanwhile, Craig ran like crazy.
Then a door blew open and a woman stood there. "I want to put you to doom, too!" It was Molly. She had made the demon. Molly was an evil witch. Craig's breath came in short gasps. Alex was coming at him from one side, MolIy from the other. Craig ran forwards. He bumped into the bar's counter. The jolt knocked the wind out of him. He couldn't run anymore.
Meanwhile, back in the kitchen, Daffy was just coming around. She remembered her dream. The old man saying to "find the missing S and destroy." What did he mean? Then Daffy remembered the missing S on the menu. Could it be? She found a scrap of paper and drew an S on it. Then she walked to the dining room with the paper in her hand. As soon as she saw Molly her guess was confirmed. While she hid in the hall she scrawled something else on the paper.
Daffy yelled at Craig, "Wait, I think I can get these guys." She went to the menu and put the paper in it. The menu sprung to life. It glowed green. When it finally dropped to the ground Alex de Demon de Desert de Beers disappeared. Then Molly shriveled. A glow escaped from her. She then disintegrated into the floor. Craig looked around, but Daffy could not be seen. Then Craig saw a scrap of paper float to the floor. It looked like this:
Dear Craig,
This is what happened. I cut a pumpkin open that the witch had enchanted by making the word 'desert' appear. The demon wanted sacrifice. He took you. I destroyed him by putting an S from where she took it. If I'm not here the demon took me for sacrifice. It's the end...., or is it just the beginning?
Daffy
As Craig walked out he couldn't decide which.
Jay Bonnem and Michelle Mahony are in the fifth grade at Timberlane Junior School in Pennington NJ.
Teacher: Mrs. Milano
...Short Story
Index
